Scott Manny’s fascination with cannons began in childhood. St. Augustine area re-enactors like Bob Hall helped shape Manny’s love of living history. “Much of our knowledge about how things were back then doesn’t just come from books”, said Manny, “we also learn what works while creating items for re-enactment.”

Now Scott is involved with a whole ship’s crew of re-enactors. They are transforming a 72-foot shrimp boat hull into a 1500s three-masted Spanish caravel, the Espiritu. Manny’s contribution will be the cannons. “The small “Falcon” cannons were made in forges back then,” Scott explained. “They would heat up rods to welding temperature, and beat them into tubes. The rings were reinforcement to hold the welds together.”

Early cannons like these were breech-loaders. They could be fired up to five times a minute. Caravels carried 8 to 12 Falcons mounted on swivels. Their purpose was to take out rigging of other ships, crippling them for easy capture. Falcons were also used against attackers in small boats.

No doubt Scott will have the chance to fire the Espiritu’s Falcons, to the delight of crowds. Perhaps it will spark another St. Augustine youth’s fascination with ancient cannons.